In the Company of Crows and Ravens

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

“Crows and people share similar traits and social strategies. To a surprising extent, to know the crow is to know ourselves.”—from the Preface

From the cave walls at Lascaux to the last painting by Van Gogh, from the works of Shakespeare to those of Mark Twain, there is clear evidence that crows and ravens influence human culture. Yet this influence is not unidirectional, say the authors of this fascinating book: people profoundly influence crow culture, ecology, and evolution as well.

John Marzluff and Tony Angell examine the often surprising ways that crows and humans interact. The authors contend that those interactions reflect a process of “cultural coevolution.” They offer a challenging new view of the human-crow dynamic; a view that may change our thinking not only about crows but also about ourselves.

Featuring more than 100 original drawings, the book takes a close look at the influences people have had on the lives of crows throughout history and at the significant ways crows have altered human lives. In the Company of Crows and Ravens illuminates the entwined histories of crows and people and concludes with an intriguing discussion of the crow-human relationship and how our attitudes toward crows may affect our cultural trajectory.

Synopsis:

The pigeon is the quintessential city bird. Domesticated thousands of years ago as a messenger and a source of food, its presence on our sidewalks is so common that people consider the bird a nuisanceandmdash;if they notice it at all. Yet pigeons are also kept for pleasure, sport, and profit by people all over the world, from the andldquo;pigeon warsandrdquo; waged by breeding enthusiasts in the skies over Brooklyn to the Million Dollar Pigeon Race held every year in South Africa.

Drawing on more than three years of fieldwork across three continents, Colin Jerolmack traces our complex and often contradictory relationship with these versatile animals in public spaces such as Veniceandrsquo;s Piazza San Marco and Londonandrsquo;s Trafalgar Square and in working-class and immigrant communities of pigeon breeders in New York and Berlin. By exploring what he calls andldquo;the social experience of animals,andrdquo; Jerolmack shows how our interactions with pigeons offer surprising insights into city life, community, culture, and politics. Theoretically understated and accessible to interested readers of all stripes, The Global Pigeon is one of the best and most original ethnographies to be published in decades.

Synopsis:

In their book, Marzluff and Angell illuminate the entwined histories of crows and people and conclude with an intriguing discussion of the crow-human relationship and how our attitudes toward crows may affect our cultural trajectory.

About the Author

JOHN M. MARZLUFF is Denman Professor of Sustainable Resource Sciences and professor of wildlife science, College of Forest Resources, University of Washington. TONY ANGELL is an artist and writer living in Seattle, Washington. Together the authors combine more than 60 years of scientific and artistic fascination with crows and their bird relatives.

What Our Readers Are Saying

Average customer rating based on 1 comment:

crowyhead, May 15, 2007 (view all comments by crowyhead)
This is a fascinating study of crows, ravens, and other corvids, and the way that they and humans have co-evolved. The authors make strong arguments for the ability of crows in particular to learn socially and even use tools. There's also a lot of fascinating stuff about the ways that humans have changed our environment in such a way that encourages crow population explosions, often at the expense of other wildlife. The book is liberally illustrated with beautiful pen and ink drawings, although Ehrlich is much better at drawing birds than he is at drawing human figures and backgrounds. It's a great book, and if you've read and enjoyed Bernd Heinrich's studies of ravens, I highly recommend this one.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No(6 of 8 readers found this comment helpful)

The pigeon is the quintessential city bird. Domesticated thousands of years ago as a messenger and a source of food, its presence on our sidewalks is so common that people consider the bird a nuisanceandmdash;if they notice it at all. Yet pigeons are also kept for pleasure, sport, and profit by people all over the world, from the andldquo;pigeon warsandrdquo; waged by breeding enthusiasts in the skies over Brooklyn to the Million Dollar Pigeon Race held every year in South Africa.

Drawing on more than three years of fieldwork across three continents, Colin Jerolmack traces our complex and often contradictory relationship with these versatile animals in public spaces such as Veniceandrsquo;s Piazza San Marco and Londonandrsquo;s Trafalgar Square and in working-class and immigrant communities of pigeon breeders in New York and Berlin. By exploring what he calls andldquo;the social experience of animals,andrdquo; Jerolmack shows how our interactions with pigeons offer surprising insights into city life, community, culture, and politics. Theoretically understated and accessible to interested readers of all stripes, The Global Pigeon is one of the best and most original ethnographies to be published in decades.

"Synopsis"
by Libri,
In their book, Marzluff and Angell illuminate the entwined histories of crows and people and conclude with an intriguing discussion of the crow-human relationship and how our attitudes toward crows may affect our cultural trajectory.

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